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Playing MP3 through USB?

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Danny Troy, Jan 3, 2024.

  1. Danny Troy

    Danny Troy Member

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    I realize I can use Bluetooth to stream from my phone, but can you play MP3s using the left USB-C port? I keep a micro-sized USB flash drive in the USB port in my Tesla, with a library of songs ready to play. Wondering if this can be done on the 2024 Prius. I have a 32GB USB-C drive on order, so I haven't actually tried it yet. I don't see any mention of USB on the multimedia screens, although it does mention it in the multimedia manual.
     
    #1 Danny Troy, Jan 3, 2024
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  2. Hammersmith

    Hammersmith Senior Member

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    Yes, just make sure the USB drive is formatted using FAT32. I believe the drive will appear as an option on the audio source screen once it's plugged in and recognized.
     
    #2 Hammersmith, Jan 3, 2024
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  3. Danny Troy

    Danny Troy Member

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    Thanks for that info. That was what I had hoped. I have two different brands of USB-C 32GB drives coming on Friday. Hopefully one will work in the Prius. Crazy that they limited the size to 32GB though.
     
    #3 Danny Troy, Jan 3, 2024
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  4. Hammersmith

    Hammersmith Senior Member

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    It's a limitation of FAT32. It would have been nice if the Toyota system could interface with exFAT, NTFS, and/or APFS.

    Either flash drive you've ordered will work, though you might have to use a computer to reformat it to FAT32 if it comes pre-formatted with one of the other file systems(many come with exFAT).
     
    #4 Hammersmith, Jan 3, 2024
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  5. Danny Troy

    Danny Troy Member

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    Yes, I believe they even mention the 2GB folder limit in the manual, which is also a limitation of Fat32.
     
    #5 Danny Troy, Jan 3, 2024
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  6. Danny Troy

    Danny Troy Member

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    Just an update. I ordered a Sandisk Dual Drive and a Verbatim Dual Drive, both 32GB. Although the Verbatim was a slower drive, it worked great in the Prius. The Sandisk didn't work at all, even after formatting Fat32 on the PC. Glad I ordered two! The on-screen user interface is pretty good. The one thing it doesn't have is the ability to move forward or backward in a songf, yet my 10 year old Tesla can do it. Maybe in a future Prius feature update?
     
    #6 Danny Troy, Jan 5, 2024
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  7. Danny Troy

    Danny Troy Member

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    Oops, I had that backwards. The Verbatim was the faster drive, but the SanDisk was the drive that worked in the Prius. The Verbatim was USB 3.2 and the SanDisk was USB 3.1
     
    #7 Danny Troy, Jan 6, 2024
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  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    My 2010 Prius can do it, but it was a little tricky to find. If I remember right (see, I'd have to be in the car and play around to make sure, it's that weird) it can only be done by long-pressing the physical SEEK/TRACK buttons, not by anything on the touch screen, and not by anything on the steering wheel.

    So I'd guess in a 2024 there's probably also some way, if you ever find it.

    Are you sure there's nothing in the manual?
     
    #8 ChapmanF, Jan 6, 2024
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  9. Danny Troy

    Danny Troy Member

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    I just went to the car and sure enough, if you hold down the next track/previous track button on the touch screen it will work. I thought I had tried it, but I guess I missed it. Nice to know it has the feature, as I'm a musician and sometimes like to replay a passage.
     
    #9 Danny Troy, Jan 6, 2024
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